THE
BLACK CAT (1965)
THE FAT BLACK PUSSYCAT (1963)
Directed By Harold Hoffman/Harold
Lea
Something Weird DVD
Reviewed 01.07.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILMS
“The Shoes Of Nude Murder
Victim Are Still Missing!”
That’s a newspaper headline
from “The Fat Black Pussycat.”
I should mention that this particular
scene appears only in the outtakes.
The outtakes. Do I have
your attention yet?
You may have passed up this obscure
double feature a few times, thinking
to yourself, “It looks just
great, but gosh, there’s so
much I want to see.” Sound
about right? If so, we’re
in the same boat. Like an imbecile,
I figured that a deuce of kitty-cat
horror would come off as average
at best. Heh heh. Big mistake. While
“The Black Cat” is a
stylish little fright-curio on its
own, the magnificent beatnik-gore
pastiche known as “The Fat
Black Pussycat” is a divine
secret from the rummy-cinema gods,
just for you. They love you, yeah,
yeah, yeah. Dig?
Although it’s second billed
on the disc, “Pussycat”
necessitates first dibs; so that’s
how we’ll do it. The entire
film works a little like this: an
incredibly simple plot (mad killer
on the loose) gets thrown through
the ringer with dozens of off-the-wall
tangents and eccentricities, making
for a thoroughly entertaining melting
pot of beat-era haze. Trust me when
I say that bizarre epics like this
only come around once every blue
moon. You’ll be glad it exists.
Edie Eichorn is dead, “attacked
by a sex fiend!” Two detectives,
Dave and Ed, are hot on the trail,
making their first stop at The Fat
Black Pussycat Cafe, where poetry-flaunting
hipsters all make the scene. That’s
the basic jumping-off point. From
there, the detectives (mostly Dave,
our snarky hero) chase after leads
as murders pile up. Dave falls for
an anthropologist named Janet Lynd
and Ed substitutes his parking laws
for some throw-down improv. We meet
scads of unrelated characters and
witness some outrageous kill scenes
(make way for the Nesquik syrup),
courtesy of our black-gloved killer.
Could this be the very first appearance
of a killer’s-point-of-view-while-breathing-heavily
shot? I think so! The cigarettes
burn, the music never stops, and
the beatnik over-acting will have
you on the floor. Eventually, things
tie up (not really) in a ludicrous,
psycho-sexual babble that’ll
put circles under your eyes. Did
I forget the psychic black cat that
seems to telegraph each murder?
You’ll be happy to know that
“Pussycat” unravels
like some kind of demented laundry
list, ultra-low budget and tinged
with artsy-because-we-don’t-know-any-better
editing. So it’s not just
the “plot” that deserves
heaps of applause, but distributor
M.A. Ripps’s “fixer-upper”
filmmaking methods as well. Ripps
acquired the film, cut it to shreds,
and reassembled it from scratch.
Cut and paste never looked better.
The sets are microscopic and everyone
seems to be playing themselves,
adding a most welcome off-the-cuff
feel. There’s a brief inkling
of intentional humor that bucks
the usual eye-rolling of such intentions
and actually makes things weirder.
Most of the time, I wasn’t
sure which way was up and I loved
every minute of that confusion.
Even the longer scenes of dialogue
were totally engrossing, if just
for bewilderment alone. Chilling,
hilarious, and most definitely incomparable;
a fascinating time capsule that
stands up to the best of ‘em.
We’re not through yet. Like
I said before, “The Black
Cat” is no slouch. No sir.
This take on ol’ Edgar Poe
is just more linear and typical
than “Pussycat,” but
certainly above average. Picture
a mid-period H.G. Lewis production...just
with more girth and excellent photography.
As long as you don’t curdle
at fake ‘n’ nasty scenes
of kitty-cat violence, full speed
ahead. Bet you won’t get that
from Lugosi and Karloff.
Lou is having a difficult time.
Growing up with parents that were
“nothing but trash,”
he resides in his inherited mansion
with wife Diana and their housemaid.
Due to a bad childhood and big-time
father complex, Lou begins devoting
more hours to drinking and club-hopping,
and less minutes to Diana and work.
Lou eventually snaps, lashing out
drunkenly at his wife and their
exotic pet collection. “Pluto,”
the black cat, gets the short straw,
with a gory eye gouging, hanging,
and electrocution. A poor old monkey
gets coffee poured on him. An awesome
mersey-beat cover band performs
with eye patches. Inevitably, Lou
takes things too far and is committed
to Bellevue, where he undergoes
unsettling shock therapy scenes.
Well...unsettling if it weren’t
for the hilarious over-dubbed moaning
-- heroin anyone? Released from
the loons, Lou attempts to get back
into the groove, but you know what
they say: once you’ve got
a screw loose, there ain’t
no turning back.
”The Black Cat” hovers
halfway between slick horror seriousness
(excellent cinematography, interesting
camera placement) and cheap weirdness
(terrible miniatures, mismatching
eye-lines, ridiculous acting). Thankfully,
the inconsistencies are what make
it work, setting the film apart
based on that alone. For every gruesome
hatchet chop or seemingly real needle
injection, there’s a solid
dose of generic go-go music and/or
bizarre incidental music cues straight
out of a “Tom and Jerry”
cartoon. Intentional sensationalism
or inspired ineptitude? Either way,
I certainly wasn’t bored.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
The prints for both films look spectacular;
“The Black Cat” in widescreen
and “Pussycat” full
frame. Aside from an initial beat-up
prologue, “The Black Cat”
lacks any serious filmic noise and
contains rich blacks, crispy-grainy
picture quality, and overly-contrasted
photography. The mono sound was
a bit “in the red” and
muffled. “Pussycat”
looks even crisper -- a perfect
example of how I’d like a
low budget obscurity from 1963 to
look. Nice and even, with very little
scratching or blemishes. The mono
sound for this one was stunning.
A couple of scorchers, that’s
for sure.
EXTRAS
Considering how much I enjoyed “Pussycat,”
I can’t think of much more
to ask for. Luckily, I don’t
even have to...
We’ll go small to large. Kicking
things off, we’ve got the
always appreciated gallery of drive-in
posters and ad mats, accompanied
by authentic trash film radio spots.
This particular gallery features
spots that I hadn’t heard
before (“The Body Shop”
aka “Dr. Gore”!) and
maybe even a few different posters.
But don’t quote me on that.
Next up is a 3 minute striptease
short entitled “Margie La
Mont, The Cat Girl.” Is that
cat-faced underwear?! In addition
to theatrical trailers for each
feature, there are seven additional
trailers included -- all cat-themed
and ranging in scope from internationale
sexploitation to K. Gordon Murray
kiddie nightmares.
Now you’re in for a treat.
Remember when I mentioned the cut
and paste production of “Pussycat”?
Well, now you’ll have a chance
to check out what was excised from
the film in over thirty minutes
of outtakes, including alternate
opening and ending scenes. Most
of the footage consists of boring
dialogue sequences, but the alternate
ending is the real gem. It’s
a slow-boil trip through an abandoned
old wild west amusement park called
“Culver City,” climaxing
with a completely different outcome.
Capping everything off is an amazingly
detailed insert written by Frank
Henenlotter, which focuses on “Pussycat”’s
history. A fascinating little read.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you pass up “The Fat Black
Pussycat” one more time, you’re
crazy. It’s an amazing slash-sex-ploito
head scratcher and totally unique.
Since “The Back Cat”
certainly holds its own and the
disc is packed to the whiskers with
catty extras (most of them pertaining
to “Pussycat”), this
is one to add to your shelf. Immediately. |
Ed can't believe her
The best
Syrup stains
Penny for 'em
The Dave Patch Five
Cat shivved
|
